Ciara Doucet’s arm kept her team in the game, but Central couldn’t produce at the plate during a Class L preliminary-round contest.

On June 3, the 14th-seeded Little Green traveled to play fourth-seeded Dover, falling by the slimmest of margins, 1-0. Doucet fired a completegame two-hitter and allowed an unearned run in the fourth inning. The Central offense, meanwhile, was denied all afternoon.

The team’s best threat came in the sixth inning when senior left fielder Liz Belanger of Hooksett smacked a two-out triple, but she remained on the bag as the inning ended.

Sophomore right fielder Deven McKiernan of Hooksett made a diving catch late in the game to save a run, giving Central’s offense one last chance to climb back in the contest, but the Little Green couldn’t rally.

Head coach Trish Ellis said her team, after its early mistakes, delivered some startling plays.

“We made the errors, but we recovered and made some great plays on defense to save ourselves,” said Ellis. “We didn’t let the physical errors effect us mentally, and we gave them a great game for the second time this year.”

In its second contest of the year, Central, which finished the year 7-13, dropped a 6-4 decision at Dover.

Ellis was forced to construct a makeshift lineup throughout the season due to injuries and school-related absences. The injury bug continued to bite in the postseason.

Infielder and cleanup hitter Brie LaRoche, said Ellis, should be a centerpiece for Central next year. She hit .385 with 22 RBI in 2009 as a sophomore.

Tanya Robidoux of Hooksett and fellow juniors Lindzy Hamel and Kyle Fortin of Candia, as well as sophomore Carly Auger of Hooksett, figure to key the attack in 2010.

Doucet was unable to pitch most of the season due to injury, something Ellis said had an impact on the consistency of the team, which suffered three three-game losing streaks during the regular season.